Alliteration abounds!
Saturday's scrimmage will be 120 plays, divided evenly among 1s vs. 1s, 2s vs. 2s, 3s vs. 3s. They'll roll out most of the offense.
Safety Jordan Davis, a freshman out of Tampa Alonso, will have knee surgery in the next few days to determine the extent of his ligament damage.
One of the most interesting drills Friday, especially on a team with some big receivers with hops, was the fade pattern drill. It took the quarterbacks a few rounds of throws but eventually, both Jake Medlock and Lorenzo Hammonds got the touch (suddenly thinking of Dirk Diggler singing).
Kicker Jack Griffin got one through from 53 yards out, missed and hit from 48. Last year, Griffin's long was 46 yards.
Mario Cristobal likes the way freshman wide receiver Raymond Jackson looks so far. He said Jackson was brought to his attention by New Orleans O. Perry Walker High coach Emmanuel Powell when Cristobal went to look at defensive lineman Marques Cheeks. Upon being told Jackson was playing quarterback, wide receiver, linebacker and safety and was drawing attention, but would like to go to FIU, Cristobal asked where he was. Powell replied, "He's right behind you," prompting Cristobal to turn around and try to look beyond a big guy wearing a beard and jacket who he assumed was a coach..and turned out to be Jackson.
Another Louisiana native, defensive tackle Isame Faciane, got kept after practice for a one-on-one with Cristobal at the middle of the field. Both have looked happier.
"I want to see more out of Ice," Cristobal said. "That's a big talented guy. I know what he can be. He knows what he can be. I know there's a lot on his plate with school and everything else. We demands the most out of these guys. We don't compromise academnics and we don't compromise what they have to do out there in practice. I just think when you have the opportunity to coach a talent like that. You just can't settle for what they do well and OK and average days. You have to push that young man to be elite and that's what we're going to do."
Reminds of something defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said about defensive end Tourek Williams Thursday. The difference between Williams this year and Williams of past years, Orlando said, "His mindset is to be That Guy with it. Maybe in the past, it would be, 'I can do this, but I can do it 65-70 percent of the time.' Now, he's saying, 'I can do this every play.'"
That's indicative of the tone around camp this year. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
